4 Implementation

4.1 Introduction

This section deals with the mechanisms necessary to implement the NWMS, and sets out the roles, responsibilities, coordination and review mechanisms that will give effect to the approach and instruments set out in sections 2 and 3.

The Department of Environmental Affairs and its provincial counterparts are responsible for the overall implementation of the Waste Act. However the implementation of the NWMS requires coordinated action by many players, including households, businesses, community organisations, NGOs, parastatals and the three spheres of government. Partnerships between these actors will lay the basis for waste awareness campaigns, recycling initiatives, and compliance monitoring, amongst others.

4.2 The role of the private sector

Industry is expected to proactively take responsibility for the waste generated throughout the life cycle of a product. Mechanisms to do so include industry waste management plans and extended producer responsibility programmes. Industry must institute cleaner technology practices to help minimise waste and have accessible take-back facilities for particular products or waste streams. To improve the quality of information on waste, industry must collect information on the waste that it generates and supply this information to the Waste Information System. Where required, industry must apply for licences and comply with licence conditions. Private sector representative bodies must ensure that their members understand, implement and comply with the provisions of the Act.

Private service providers play key roles in all stages of waste management, including in waste service delivery and recycling. An expansion of waste services to un-serviced communities will require municipalities to explore alternative service delivery mechanisms, including public private partnerships. The private sector is encouraged to actively engage in making universal service provision a reality and growing the green economy. The private sector should also respond creatively to new technologies in the fields of waste processing and treatment, and establish capacity in these areas as technologies become commercially viable.

4.3 The role of civil society

Consumers and households play an important role in the generation of waste from the products they consume. As end users they need to reduce, re-use and recycle waste wherever feasible, and dispose of this waste responsibly. They should be aware of the environmental impact of the products that they buy, and pass on a sense of environmental responsibility to families and colleagues.

NGOs, non-profit organisations, community based organisations, cooperatives and trade unions play important roles in all phases of the waste management hierarchy, including in recycling initiatives, delivery of waste management services, compliance monitoring, and education and advocacy.

Civil society formations are encouraged to participate in the development and implementation of the NWMS and Waste Act's provisions.

4.4 The role of government

Informed by the Constitutional assignment of powers and functions to the different spheres of government, the Waste Act assigns clear responsibilities for waste management activities to each sphere. Some of these responsibilities require partnerships between government, communities and the private sector.

Local government must provide waste management services, which include waste removal, storage and disposal services, as per Schedule 5B of the Constitution. Municipalities must work with industry and other stakeholders to extend recycling at municipal level. Municipalities must provide additional bins for separation at-source, and are responsible for diverting organic waste from landfill and composting it. Municipalities must facilitate local solutions such as Material Recovery Facilities and buy-back centres, rather than provide the entire recycling infrastructure themselves.

Municipalities must designate a waste management officer from their administration to coordinate waste management matters. They must also submit an IWMP plan to the MEC for approval. The IWMP must be integrated to the municipal integrated development plans (IDPs), and the municipal annual performance report must include information on the implementation of the IWMP. Municipalities must also register transporters of waste above certain thresholds on a list of waste transporters.

At their discretion, municipalities may set local waste service standards for waste separation, compacting, management and disposal of solid waste, amongst others. Local standards must be aligned with any provincial and national standards where these exist.

Provincial government is the primary regulatory authority for waste activities, except for activities for which the Minister is the authority. It must promote and ensure the implementation of the NWMS and national norms and standards. Similar to local government, it must designate a provincial waste management officer responsible for coordinating waste management matters in the province. It must also prepare a Provincial IWMP and an annual performance report on its implementation, both of which must be submitted to the Minister for approval. Provinces have a number of discretionary powers, some of which may only be exercised in consultation with the Minister. These powers include setting provincial norms and standards, declaring a priority waste, listing of waste management activities, registering waste transporters, requesting the preparation of industry waste management plans, identifying contaminated land and establishing a provincial waste information system. To provide a nationally harmonised regulatory environment for waste management, the provinces will only exercise these discretionary powers where clear and compelling reasons exist, after consultation with DEA.

National government, and in particular DEA, is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the Waste Act is implemented and that the various provisions are harnessed in the most appropriate and effective way. The Waste Act specifies various mandatory and discretionary provisions that DEA must address.

In terms of mandatory provisions, DEA is responsible for:

Establishing the National Waste Management Strategy.

Setting national norms and standards.

Establishing and maintaining a National Contaminated Land Register.

Establishing and maintaining a National Waste Information System.

Preparing and implementing a National Integrated Waste Management Plan.

As discussed earlier, the Minister is the licensing authority for hazardous waste, activities performed by a provincial environmental authority or statutory body other than municipalities, or an activity that takes place in more than one authority or that traverses international boundaries. The Minister is responsible for international obligations relating to waste.

The Minister must designate a waste management officer from the DEA's administration to co-ordinate waste management matters.

DEA has numerous discretionary responsibilities that it may invoke. These include developing national norms and standards for waste minimisation, re-use, recycling, recovery and tariffs. DEA can declare priority wastes; identify products for extended producer responsibility programmes, list waste management activities, request industry waste management plans, register transporters of waste and initiate investigations of land that may be contaminated.

Other national departments play important regulatory and supportive roles in implementing the Waste Act, and waste management more broadly. The following table summarises the main national departments and their areas of responsibility:

Table 5: Roles of government departments

Department

Area of responsibility

Description

Department of Cooperative Governance

Waste services planning, delivery and infrastructure

Support municipalities to prepare IWMPs and integrate with IDPs.

Make MIG funds accessible for development and upgrading of municipal landfill sites.

Department of Trade and Industry

Industry regulation and norms and standards

Manage the overall system of industry regulation.

Apply Consumer Protection Act.

Develop norms and standards using the Technical Infrastructure.

Support the development of markets for recycled materials.

Support the establishment of SMEs for waste collection services and recycling.

National Treasury

Fiscal regulation and funding mechanisms

Oversee financial integrity of intergovernmental transfers to provincial and local government.

Manage the overall system of taxation and implement tax measures that support the goals and objectives of the NWMS.

Determine budget allocations for waste management functions at national level.

Department of International Relations

International agreements

Give effect to Multilateral Environmental Agreements.

South African Revenue Services

Import and export control

Ensure waste management measures are aligned with the product codes in the Schedules to the Customs and Excise Acts.

Department of Water Affairs

Water quality and licensing

Collaborate with DEA in issuing integrated waste disposal licences.

Department of Mineral Resources

Waste management in the mining sector

Regulate waste management in the mining sector that falls outside the ambit of the Waste Act (including residue deposits and stockpiles), and remediate land that mining activities have contaminated.

Department of Health

Health care risk waste

Address health care risk waste and advise DEA and provincial departments on the appropriate standards and measures for the sector.

Department of Defence

Contaminated land

Remediate land contaminated by explosives waste.

4.5 Co-operative governance

The Constitution requires the spheres of government and organs of state to exercise their powers and functions in a mutually supportive and cooperative manner. The existing intergovernmental systems for coordinating environmental management provide the basis for cooperative governance in relation to waste management. These structures are:

MINMEC: Environment is a standing intergovernmental body consisting of the Minister of Environmental Affairs, members of the provincial Executive Councils (MECs) responsible for environmental management functions, and SALGA. MINMEC meets quarterly.

MINTEC: Environment is a standing intergovernmental body that gives technical input to MINMEC. MINTEC consists of the Director-General of the DEA, the heads of the provincial departments responsible for environmental management functions, and SALGA. MINTEC also meets quarterly.

Committee for Environmental Co-ordination was established in terms of Section 7 of NEMA. The object of the Committee is to integrate environmental functions of the relevant organs of state, and to coordinate the environmental implementation plans and environmental management plans of departments and provinces. This is the appropriate forum to align the activities of DEA with other government departments, and to integrate the national IWMP into departments' strategic plans. The Waste Act specifies areas that require co-operative governance: waste management licensing, integrated waste management plans, waste minimisation, regulations and compliance and enforcement.

A waste management licence may only be issued with the required approvals from other organs of state that are legally mandated to consent to that activity53. Furthermore, the Act provides for integrated licensing by means of an integrated environmental authorisation as contemplated in NEMA section 24L. Integrated licences are required for waste management activities that also affect air or water quality. DEA, DWA and MECs will collaborate to issue integrated licences.

IWMPs will mainstream waste management in local government. The MEC for local government and the MEC for environment will support and monitor the development and implementation of integrated waste management plans. DEA will consult with the Department of Co-operative Governance to develop guidelines for these plans.

In terms of industry regulation and economic measures, a number of issues raised in the NWMS require coordination between the DEA and the Departments of Trade and Industry and the National Treasury. A dedicated co-ordinating committee will be established to address the application of the South African Technical Infrastructure; the declaration of priority wastes and EPR schemes; the implications of the Consumer Protection Act; recycling schemes and the implications for competition policy; and incentives for cleaner production. The committee will also evaluate proposals that promote reduction, re-use, recycling or recovery of waste, as well as their economic impact.

In land remediation, coordination is particularly important because this is a concurrent mandate. An existing Government Task Team comprising the Departments of Mineral Resources, Environmental Affairs and Water Affairs focuses on mine closures and addresses remediation after mining activities. The mandate of this committee will be broadened to address remediation in its entirety. DEA will convene and provide the secretariat for this committee.

MINTEC Working Group 4 deals with compliance and enforcement, and it will clarify clarifying the roles and responsibilities of EMIs at national, provincial and local levels. EMIs coordinate their activities closely with the South African Police Services (SAPS), who play a crucial role in enforcing environmental legislation. In terms of NEMA, all police officers also have the powers of an EMI. EMIs cannot prosecute cases in court, so the results of their investigations are handed over to staff at the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to prosecute. The Department of Environmental Affairs and the NPA will collaborate to ensure the successful prosecution of environmental crimes.

Section 44 of the Waste Act.

4.6 Waste Management Officers

The Waste Act creates a specialised official, a Waste Management Officer, to coordinate waste management at each level of government. This addresses the historical fragmentation of waste management functions within government by ensuring that a dedicated authority in each sphere of government is responsible for implementing the policy and regulations of the Waste Act. The DEA has produced guidelines for the designation of WMOs, setting out their role, powers, profile and rank. The duties and responsibilities that the Waste Act and the NWMS assign to each sphere of government determine the roles and powers of their WMOs.

WMOs perform a regulatory function and should be located in functional divisions separate from service-delivery functions where possible. This is particularly important for overseeing adherence to national norms and standards, which is fundamental to achieving the objectives of the Waste Act.

The Act assigns specific regulatory powers to the National WMO and Provincial WMO's. They may request that holders of waste management licences appoint waste management control officers54, and they may require waste impact reports when waste management licences are being reviewed55.

The responsibilities of the national, provincial and local Waste Management Officers are in Table 6.

Table 6: Responsibilities of National, Provincial and Local WMOs

National Waste Management Officer

Provincial Waste Management Officer

Local Waste Management Officers

Chairperson of the National Waste Forum.

Chairperson of Provincial Waste Forum

Advises the Minister about the declaration of priority waste, EPRs, and mandatory Industry Waste Management Plans.

Advises the MEC.

Sorting out co-operative governance issues.

Sorting out co-operative governance issues.

Address overlapping mandates, particularly at national and provincial level.

Manage stakeholders in Waste Act implementation.

Manage stakeholders in Waste Act implementation.

Manage stakeholders in Waste Act implementation.

Liaise with national EMI compliance monitoring activities.

Liaise with provincial EMI compliance monitoring activities.

Liaise with EMI compliance monitoring activities in the municipality.

National IWMP: align planning and reporting cycles.

Provincial IWMP: align planning and reporting cycles

Municipal IWMP: planning and reporting cycles.

Build capacity in relation to Waste Act implementation.

Build capacity in relation to Waste Act implementation

Build capacity in relation to Waste Act implementation.

Formulate and oversee Waste Act implementation plan.

Monitor adherence to norms and standards in the delivery of waste services.

As part of their regulatory functions, the WMOs support the EMIs who enforce the provisions of the Waste Act. This requires a close working relationship between WMOs and EMIs. The WMOs will assist the Environmental Management Inspectorate to identify priorities for monitoring activities that present a significant threat to health and the environment. WMOs and EMIs will also work together to prepare Waste Impact reports56. Under certain circumstances, both the EMI and WMOs can request a waste impact report, which will be done in consultation and co-operation with each other.

DEA will establish dedicated mechanisms to co-ordinate the efforts of WMOs (see Figure 5). Waste forums will be created at district, provincial and national level.

Figure 5: Coordination mechanisms for WMOs

To effectively co-ordinate regulatory and policy-making roles in relation to waste management, the chairperson of the National Waste Forum will report to Working Group II.

Section 58(1) of the Waste Act.

Section 66(2).

Provided for in terms of Section 66 of the Waste Act.

4.7 Capacity building

Implementing the Act requires additional capacity in the three spheres of government. This includes adequate human resources as well as appropriate skills and training. The table below identifies the main capacity challenges in government that need to be addressed.

Table 7: New capacity required to implement the Waste Act

Sphere of Government

Functional Area

Requirements

All

Integrated waste management plans

Staff who can draw up plans for waste service provision

All

Monitoring and enforcement

800 additional EMIs, two thirds of them at local government level. Specialised training in the Waste Act for these EMIs

National

Norms and standards

Dedicated unit with technical experts, including process and chemical engineers and legal drafters.

National

Remediating contaminated land

New division that can administer the system.

National

Industrial waste management issues

Staff who understands industry waste management. Working relations with industry

National

Information management

Dedicated staff to collect, analyse and disseminate all waste and waste management information.

National and provincial

Licensing

Staff to interpret EIAs. Standards for EAPs.

Municipal

Planning

Staff who can plan for the appropriate levels of service, extension of services, and landfills.

Municipal

Delivering waste services

Staff that can manage internal waste service delivery or manage contracts with private service providers.

Municipal

Waste separation and recycling

Staff who can plan and establish such facilities.

Municipal

Financial management

Staff who can undertake full cost accounting, ring fence waste service budgets, establish and implement cost reflective and volumetric tariffs, and implement the free basic services policy through subsidies for the indigent.

Municipal

Financial planning

Staff who can plan capital expenditure based on infrastructure modelling

Municipal

Communications

Staff who can effectively communicate with communities about proper waste management practices.

The capacity challenge at local government level is particularly acute. A nationally coordinated capacity building programme for local government will aim to address the above challenges. DEA, the provinces and SALGA will jointly develop the programme. It will align with the overall strategic framework for local government capacity building that DCOG coordinates. The programme will include national policy guidance on systems and procedures, training and information programmes for officials and councillors, expert advice and placement for limited periods, and capacity building grants to support local initiatives. The programme will be implemented in 2012.

4.8 Waste Information System

In terms of Section 60 of the Waste Act the Minister has established a national waste information system for recording, collecting, managing and analysing waste data. The South African Waste Information System (SAWIS) addresses the lack of reliable data on the waste sector.

SAWIS will provide information to inform Integrated Waste Management Plans and Industry Waste Management Plans, and to evaluate their implementation. The information in SAWIS must inform public health and safety management, and help to assess the impact of waste on health and the environment. It must also provide information on waste to educators and researchers to raise public awareness.

Access for the public and industry to information stored on SAWIS is a statutory requirement of the Waste Act. However, safeguards will be put in place to ensure that companies have access to their own information only and that aggregated information is available for industrial sectors. Proprietary company information will not be exposed to third parties.

DEA will publish National Waste Information Regulations which will make reporting to SAWIS obligatory, and which will provide the volumetric or mass thresholds at which SAWIS registration and reporting is required. The volumetric or mass thresholds avoid the need for reporting by small scale recyclers. The regulations will stipulate sanctions for noncompliance.

Section 60(3) of the Waste Act provides for an incremental implementation of SAWIS57.

DEA will undertake a baseline study of the current quantities of waste which are generated, reduced, re-used, recycled, recovered, stored, transported, treated and disposed of for each of the waste types set out in the National Waste Information Regulations. This will inform the further development of SAWIS, and create a baseline for interpreting SAWIS information.

Provinces may optionally create their own waste information systems58. Provincial waste information systems should include all the information that the national system requires. Some provincial WIS systems already exist and dual reporting requirements are undesirable. To avoid multiple reporting, the Minister may exempt entities reporting to a provincial system from requirements to report to the national system once mechanisms exist to replicate information from the provincial system to the national system.

SAWIS will be implemented within the new technology framework for information systems described in Section 3.4.2. Horizontal integration of SAWIS with other waste regulation and information systems is required for licensing procedures (currently captured on NEAS). A new framework that integrates business procedures using a single underlying data base will enable this horizontal integration. The current implementation of SAWIS will move to the new framework.

An integrated procedure for licensing and registration on SAWIS is desirable, but does not exempt licencees from separately registering with SAWIS. Facilities that fail to meet licensing requirements or are granted exemptions from licensing requirements will still be required to register with SAWIS. A standard categorisation system exists for waste information submitted to SAWIS and it will align with the WCMS and reporting requirements stipulated in licences.

For instance, generators of hazardous waste are currently not required to submit waste data. Instead, waste managers submit this data on their behalf.

Section 62 of the Waste Act.

4.9 Monitoring and evaluation

The NWMS aligns with the Government-wide Monitoring and Evaluation System (GWM&E)59 outputs. Section 2, Table 4 of the strategy establishes national targets and indicators for monitoring and reporting on the NWMS. DEA will collate and review information on each of these indicators at least once a year.

The national targets and indicators for monitoring and reporting on the NWMS will be translated into specific targets and indicators for each provincial and municipal IWMP60.

Effective monitoring requires annual performance reports on the implementation of the national, provincial and municipal IWMPs. These performance reports must include:

The extent to which the plan has been implemented during the period.

Waste management initiatives undertaken during the reporting period.

Delivery of waste management services.

Level of compliance with the IWMP and applicable waste management standards.

Measures to secure compliance with waste management standards.

For Provinces, the extent to which municipalities comply with the plan and reasons for any non-compliance.

The Waste Act61 specifies further requirements for the reports and the Minister may prescribe more.

Provinces submit their annual performance report to the MEC and the Minister for approval. Municipalities submit their reports in accordance with section 46 of the Municipal Systems Act. The first report will provide a baseline and each year's performance will become the following year's baseline.

Local municipalities submit their IWMP annual performance report to the district municipality, who then submits their IWMP annual performance report to the province. Provincial IWMP annual performance reports are then submitted to the national department who produce a national IWMP annual performance report. Deadlines and approval requirements in the Waste Act for annual performance reports are listed in Error! Reference source not found.8: Reporting requirements for IWMP annual performance reports

4.10 Mechanisms to give effect to international obligations

Various international agreements to which South Africa has acceded relate to waste management. A number of non-binding conventions and protocols are also relevant to waste management. This section summarises the main actions in the NWMS related to implementing international agreements.

4.10.1 The Basel Convention

The Basel Convention, adopted in 1989, has the greatest bearing on the Waste Act as it addresses the trans-boundary movement of hazardous wastes and their disposal, setting out the categorization of hazardous waste and the policies between member countries.

DEA is developing MOUs with the International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC)and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) that effectively address the provisions of the Basel Convention.

DEA is considering accession to the amendments to the Basel Convention that ban the import and export of hazardous wastes. DEA is also currently developing a policy on imports and exports of waste that will address this.

DEA and DTI are jointly addressing the import and export control aspects of the Basel Convention, together with the chemical conventions. Control will happen through ITAC permits and SARS tariff codes.

4.10.2 The Montreal Protocol

The Montreal Protocol Treaty, revised in 1999, protects the ozone layer by phasing out the production of several substances that contribute to ozone depletion, with the aim of ozone layer recovery by 2050. This has relevance for waste management in instances where such obsolete products enter the waste stream. DEA will finalise and publish the National Implementation Plan for the Montreal Protocol. The plan will include the development on an Ozone Depletion Substance (ODS) strategy and regulations will provide for the phasing out of specified substances and their safe disposal. These will be gazetted for public comment in 2012.

4.10.3 The Rotterdam Convention

The Rotterdam Convention promotes and enforces transparency in the importation of hazardous chemicals and whilst it explicitly excludes waste, its implementation may lead to bans on listed chemicals. Some of these chemicals may occur in stockpiles of obsolete chemicals such as pesticides that have been identified as a major waste management challenge. Extended producer responsibility schemes will be used to effectively manage obsolete chemicals.

A study to investigate the extent of manufacture, use, import and export of new chemicals listed in the Rotterdam Convention will determine whether South Africa should ratify the newly added chemicals. This document will be finalised in 2012. A process to identify and ban pesticides and industrial chemicals listed in Annex lll (that South Africa has not yet banned) has started. Responsible departments will finalise arrangements for banning orders in 2012.

4.10.4 The Stockholm Convention

The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), which entered into force in 2004, requires that member countries phase out POPs and prevent their import or export. Parties to the Convention are also required to undertake the following responsibilities:

Develop and implement appropriate strategies to identify stockpiles, products and articles in use that contain or are contaminated with POPs.

Manage stockpiles and wastes in an environmentally sound manner.

Dispose of waste in a way that destroys or irreversibly transforms POPs content.

A National Implementation Plan has been developed and it will be reviewed in light of the Waste Act and finalised in 2012.

Furthermore, a study has been initiated to investigate the extent of manufacture, use, import and export of new POPs listed in this convention. The study will determine if South Africa should ratify the newly added POPs. This document will be finalised in 2012.

4.10.5 New Mercury Convention

Negotiations on a global convention on mercury were initiated in Stockholm in June 2010 and will cover all mercury uses and emissions. It is anticipated that a legally binding treaty to control mercury pollution will be adopted.

4.10.6 Various conventions dealing with dumping waste at sea

Despite decades of regulation at the International Maritime Organisation and elsewhere, and bans on discharging and dumping of nearly all shipping waste streams, such wastes routinely find their way into the sea with little evidence that these discharges are diminishing. The disincentive to use the Port Reception Facilities (PRF) can be removed by incorporating the cost of PRF use into the general harbour dues that all ships pay. Such an approach is generally known as a "no-special-fee" system, and is already in place in other parts of the world. Accordingly, the Department of Transport, in conjunction with DEA, will investigate and implement a "no-special-fee" system in all South African ports, and actively promote this as a standard international requirement.

4.10.7 Coordination mechanisms

DEA and the dti have established the Interdepartmental Committee for the Sound Management of Chemicals to coordinate the implementation of national legislation and action plans to manage chemicals in line with international agreements and instruments. This committee integrates the previously separate coordination structures for activities relating to the Rotterdam Convention (the Chemical Review Committee) (CRC) and the Stockholm Convention (the POPs review committee) (POPRC).

The committee consists of representatives from all affected government departments, including the SABS, ITAC, South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and South African Police Service (SAPS). The committee also convenes a multi-stakeholder forum that includes representatives from provincial and local government, labour, business, civil society, and academic and research institutions.

The work programme for the Interdepartmental Committee includes recommendations on whether to accede to international agreements, and advice on programmes of action for agreements to which South Africa has already acceded, including proposals for drafting the necessary regulations.

4.10.8 Import and export control

The systems for controlling the import and export of chemicals and hazardous waste have now been integrated with the provisions of the International Trade Administration Act (Act 71 of 2003). This Act created a permit system to control the import and export of goods specified by regulation. The system falls under a directorate in the dti - ITAC. ITAC's primary function is to administer the provisions of the International Trade Administration Act.

The Minister of Trade and Industry issues regulations to either ban the import of specified goods or class of goods, or require that they adhere to the conditions stated in a permit that the Commission issues. DEA will identify the tariff codes of and restrictions on chemicals and other products and submit these to the dti. The Minister of Trade of Industry will then issue regulations for these goods under the International Trade Administration Act. SARS's Customs and Excise division in turn uses the tariff codes to enforce the prohibitions or restrictions associated with a particular tariff code.

To assist DEA and the dti with the administration of this system, the relevant Multilateral Export Agreement (MEA) Convention secretariats will be requested to assist member countries to identify the relevant international tariff codes. Aligning mechanisms for import and export control with the MEAs is one of the central mechanisms to give effect to our international obligations.